Alien Paladin's Woman: SciFi Alien-Human Military Suspense Romance by Vi Voxley Read Free Book Online Page A

and thicker. It was huge, too, seeming to grow exponentially with every moment before it burst into the tinier ones.
    How the hell do we fight these things? she thought, dodging.
    Audrey calculated in her mind. If the paladins had started moving the second they got the message, they were still long, long minutes away. The bottom of the mountain wasn't easily accessed, but it also wasn't easily escaped.
    She hoped they had the sense to try and set up a perimeter not to let the enemy run.
    None of it did anything to better their current situation, however. She was firing as fast as she could, thankful to Franco for all his gun instruction.
    No matter who the bastards were, they were on her planet and she wasn't going to let them get away with robbing her.
    The Palians without weapons were fighting the smaller Jorcossi with their bare hands and Audrey noticed Terrans joining in too. Jorcossi were small, but fast and vicious, trying to choke their victims to death with their long hands.
    While they were mostly serpentine in shape, they had these skinny, spindly arms that were surprisingly strong. Slimy, fast, and sinewy, they were not easy to fight, even if they seemed skinny and frail at first glance.
    Gritting her teeth, Audrey shot as precisely as she could, but she didn't dare to turn her gun on those already engaged, fearing she'd hit one of her own.
    "Are the paladins coming?" she asked Aznim over the sounds of fighting.
    "Yes," the Palian replied, never taking his eyes off the big, central Jorcossi, but the creature somehow dodged every shot. "They are, but they have to hurry. If that thing gets the stone…"
    Audrey didn't get to hear what was going to happen then, because one of the smaller ones jumped to tackle her guard, sending him stumbling back.
    She suddenly found herself alone between the Jorcossi and the glowing stone behind her. Aznim was being held down by a horde of the smaller creatures and all the miners were under attack too. A few were approaching her as well, but Audrey kept picking them off one by one with frantic shots.
    None of it did anything to discourage the big Jorcossi. Audrey had no idea how she could keep missing him at point-blank range, until she noticed the creature's body wiggling, twisting, and undulating out of the way. It was so fast it nearly seemed to teleport a few inches to the right or left every time she thought she'd gotten a clean shot.
    When the creature reached her, it simply threw her aside with surprising strength for his thin form. Audrey landed with a pained grunt and fought to stand back up on her feet, scrambling out of the way of a Jorcossi that tried to pin her down. In the next second, she was already running back to the big one who was reaching for the gleaming stone.
    Since shooting hadn't seemed to help, Audrey did the next best thing. She tackled him.
    It can't dodge the whole of me, can it?
    The creature saw her coming and turned to her with an angry hiss. Audrey knocked him away from the stone and they fell together. Again she got to feel how strong the alien was despite his looks.
    Long fingers closed around her throat and her eyes went wide, realizing that might have been the end of her.
    Her instincts kicked in. Franco had taught them that all species had different weaknesses, but generally eyes were a pretty safe bet. She jammed her fingers into the Jorcossi's eyes, pushing down with disgust.
    With a shrill scream, the creature let go of her to peel her hands away, but by then Aznim was there.
    He pulled the Jorcossi off her, taking aim with his gun, but the Jorcossi slithered away so fast Audrey barely saw him move. It was like something out of nightmares, constantly just out of reach. One moment he was right there in front of them and in the next, he reached for the stone.
    Shortly, Audrey realized that the Jorcossi never actually touched the stone. He picked up one of the containers from the ground, meant for sorting through the smaller findings and used it